ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL
Saints celebrated on the 11th of April
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SAINT STANISLAUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanow was born in a village in Lesser Poland (Malopolska). He was educated at the Cathedral school in Gniezno, Poland’s capital at the time. He was eventually ordained by Lambert II Sula, Bishop of Krakow.
ONE OF THE EARLIEST NATIVE POLISH BISHOPS
Following the bishop’s death in 1072, Stanislaus took his place, becoming one of the earliest native Polish bishops. During his time in office he managed to ensure the re-establishment of the metropolitan see in Gniezno which was a precondition for Duke Boleslaw’s coronation as king. After he was enthroned in 1076, Stanislaus managed to persuade King Boleslaw to establish Benedictine monasteries for the evangelisation of Poland.
King Boleslaw and Stanislaus fell into conflict when Poland experienced a prolonged war with Ruthenia. The bishop criticised the king for punishing soldiers’ faithless wives very cruelly. Although the root cause of the falling out is still debated, Bishop Stanislaus excommunicated the king and was subsequently accused of treason and sentenced to death.
HE WAS MARTYRED WHILE CELEBRATING HOLY MASS
Although Boleslaw sent his men to execute the bishop without trial, they felt too afraid and so the king killed Stanislaus himself. It is said that he killed Stanislaus while he was celebrating Mass in the Church of St Michael the Archangel, known as the Skalka, though it is also said he was actually killed in Wawel Castle.
HIS FEAST DAY
The bishop’s body was then hacked to pieces and thrown into a pool. Some sources say his death occurred on April 11, 1079 and others say May 8 of the same year. Pope Innocent IV canonised Stanislaus on September 17, 1253 and Pope Clement VIII later named his feast day for May 7, which was moved to April 11 by the Church in 1969, when it was decided this was the accurate date of his death.
HIS RELICS
Stanislaus is a patron saint of both Krakow and Poland. Every year, the Archbishop of Krakow leads a procession from Wawel to the Skalka in honour of St Stanislaus. Wawel Cathedral holds the saint’s relics and is a national shrine for Poles.
One of Stanislaus’ greatest devotees was the soon-to-be-saint John Paul II, who in 1979 devoted his first apostolic letter, Rutilans Agmen, to St Stanislaus. The letter expressed his wonder that John Paul II, a successor of Stanislaus in the see of Krakow, should, ‘by the inscrutable designs of God’, have been elected Pope within the 900th anniversary year of his predecessor’s martyrdom.
This article was published in The Catholic Herald, paper edition, issue April 4, 2014
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Stanislaus may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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